Research Design Midterm

Task difficulty and audience presence

Dr. Pak runs a study where she examines how task difficulty and audience presence influence task performance. She randomly assigns participants to complete either an easy task (circling all of the letter E's in an article) or a hard task (circling all of the letter E's in an article, but skipping the E's in words that have 3+ syllables). She also assigns these same participants to either do their task alone, in the presence of other people completing the same task (but not watching), or in front of group of people who are watching. Dr. Pak is interested in how many letter E's participants can circle accurately in each condition. **What are the independent variables?**

Open-ended questions

What types of questions are most common and useful in qualitative research?

The Belmont Report

This report was created in 1979 and sets ethical principles for human subjects research.

Participant observation

Jake wants to study how many people order coffee ice cream from Polly Ann’s on Saturdays. In order to study this, Jake goes to Polly Ann’s and sits down at a table to watch what people order. What research strategy is Jake engaging in?

We seek to describe how most people think/feel/behave in most situations

Psychology is a probabilistic science. What does this mean?

Internal validity

Research conducted in the laboratory tends to be particularly high in which type of validity?

Bad blood

In the Tuskegee Syphilis Study (1932-1972), what were participants told they were being treated for?

Purposive sampling

Which of the following terms refers to selecting a sample based on a larger phenomenon/case?

Parallel structure

What is the general term for when elements in a sentence are expressed in a consistent grammatical form?

Between-subjects 

Some participants of a study were randomly assigned to listen to Taylor Swift while they took a test. Others were randomly assigned to listen to nothing as they took the test. Test results were compared between the two groups. What study design is this an example of?

Negative wording

What is the key flaw in the following survey question? "Do you oppose a bill designed to restrict state limitations on voting rights?"

How does the way people communicate with their partners influence their relationship satisfaction?

Per our discussion of characteristics of interesting research questions, which of the following is an interesting question?

Sample characteristics may lead to a certain pattern of results

What does it mean to have a biased sample?

Comparison conditions

Experiments always include…

In public settings, women express their affection for their partners more than men do. At home, men and women express affection for their partners at the same frequency

Which of the following is an example of an interaction claim?

Snowball sampling

When researchers ask the participants to help them identify other potential participants, this is called _____.

35

How many conditions are there in a 5x7 completely between-subjects factorial design?

snowball sampling

Ryan is conducting a study on stress and physical health. He sends a survey to his friends, then asks his friends to send it to their friends. What type of sampling is Ryan using?

It typically costs more money to recruit rarer demographics

When collecting data online (e.g., through MTurk or Prolific), why doesn't every researcher collect a diverse sample?

Closest to 1 or -1

Which of the following is the strongest correlation?

Neologism

New words that combine well-known prefixes/suffixes and other words

Mansplain

Which of the following is a neologism?

Interviews

Suppose that Cristina wants to look into the research question “How does experiencing discrimination in the workplace affect a person of color’s ambition and desire for a leadership role within a startup tech company?” What would be the best method to use to research this?

Testing/fatigue effect

Aaron is participating in a two-part study about how playing sports affects his psychological wellbeing. On the first survey, Aaron carefully answers all of the questions about wellbeing. He then plays basketball for an hour and completes the wellbeing survey again. This time, he is tired and circles the same option (strongly agree) for all questions. What is Aaron experiencing?

Justice

Exclusively recruiting a vulnerable group of people for research that presumably benefits a broader population violates the principle of _____.

Caffeine improves people's exam performance

In a study, people randomly assigned 50mg of caffeine score higher on an exam than people randomly assigned 10mg. What best explains this finding?

Influences

Which of these expressions connotes a causal claim?

Just enough to incentive participants without coercing them

If a researcher has access to research funds, how much should they compensate participants?

Inter-rater reliability

Dr. Reese brings romantic couples into the lab and has them engage in intimate conversations. He video records all of the conversations. He also has participants fill out a personality inventory. Dr. Reese is interested in examining the videos for how couples navigate intimate conversations (e.g., are there trends in behaviors). After watching many, he notices that some partners engage in a lot of deep interruptions - shifting the conversation to themselves. So, Dr. Reese decides to code all of the videos for instances of deep interruptions. Dr. Reese is also interested in whether some individual differences (e.g., openness) determine whether people engage in deep interruptions. **Dr. Reese has 3 coders independently examining each video. Which construct is he assessing when he examines whether the coders generally agreed with one another?**

Random coincidence

A researcher finds that in years when more sociology doctoral degrees are awarded, there tend to be more non-commercial space launches (r = .79). What likely explains this effect?

Internal validity

Using a between-subjects design typically maximizes ______.

12

How many conditions are in a 4x3 factorial design?

At least one factor is between-subjects and at least one factor is within-subjects

What does it mean for a study to have a mixed factorial design?

A​​thletes tend to perform around their average - so, following an extraordinary performance, subsequent performances will tend to seem bad by comparison

Highly successful sports teams may be featured on Sports Illustrated for their incredible achievement. Immediately afterward, in subsequent games, they tend to deliver disappointing performances. This has been dubbed the "Sports Illustrated Effect." Many athletes fear being featured because they want to avoid this curse. Methodologists and statisticians have instead identified this as an example of "regression to the mean." What does that mean?

Ensure participants do not know what condition they are in

How do psychological researchers typically address placebo effects (specifically) in their studies?

Coders (judges) give similar evaluations

When interrater reliability is high, we expect to see ______.

When you are delivering bad or sensitive news

When might you want to use the passive voice?

Inductive

When you have little knowledge, theory, or experience, which type of reasoning should you use?

A researcher seeks to understand why people cheat on their partners. As part of the study, participants spend alone time with an attractive alternative to their current romantic partner.

Which of the following illustrates unnecessary harm to participants?

Participants are randomly assigned to a single condition

If a factorial design is fully between-subjects, that means…

Gender, age, and race

What demographic information are researchers expected to collect from participants in all studies?

It depends on your research question

Which is better - qualitative or quantitative research?

All of these are valid approaches to measuring conflict resolution patterns

The Gottman lab studies conflict resolution. They bring couples into the lab and video record them discussing an unresolved conflict in their relationship. How can the researchers measure partners' conflict resolution patterns?

Feasible 

If you have enough time, funding, and technical knowledge to conduct a study, that study would be considered highly _____.

Frequency 

Dr. Milgram found that over 60% of participants in his study were willing to administer purportedly lethal shocks to another person. This is a ____ claim.

Researchers could use a less stringent alpha value (e.g., p < .10)

Which of the following is NOT a reasonable solution to the replication crisis?

Self-selection bias

Which of the following terms is commonly used to criticize the sample of the Zimbardo Prison Experiment?

Cronbach’s alpha 

Which of the following would we use to measure the internal reliability of a 3+ item scale?

Limitations

Which of the following might you first write about in a Discussion section?

Split an otherwise more expansive variable into two groups

What does it mean to "dichotomize" a variable?

External

Collecting a representative sample (versus a convenience sample) maximizes what kind of validity?

The interviewer strives to build rapport with the interviewee

Which of the following is typically true of interviews?

3

How many independent variables are in a 2x2x2 factorial design?

Demonstrative pronoun 

What is creating ambiguity in this sentence: "Simon pushed Tina into the pond. That was cold."

Nocebo effect 

Sheila doesn't trust medical institutions. Her doctor insists she receive a new vaccine. Although she is reluctant, after receiving some social pressure from friends and family, she gets the vaccine. That night, Sheila tosses and turns at night worried that the vaccine will permanently harm her. She develops chronic sleeping difficulties and her immune system gradually gets worse. What term best explains what happened to Sheila?

Observer bias

Which of the following can undermine internal validity in between-subjects designs?

None of the other option 

The U.S. Census is an example of:

The two groups will behave similarly

You design a study where you divide people into a control group and experimental group. You expect the experimental group will behave differently than the control group. What is the null hypothesis (assume two-tailed test).

Self selection

In order to recruit participants for the Zimbardo Prison Experiment, newspaper advertisements were put out highlighting the study on imprisonment. All the participants that volunteered likely had unique traits relative to people who did not volunteer. What concept does this represent?

Intensifiers; hedges

Use ____ to add emphasis and ____ to convey caution.

1

What is the minimum number of dependent variables in a 5x7 factorial design study?

Association claim

"Single people work out more frequently than people in romantic relationships." This is an example of which type of claim?

Only the research that the reader must be aware of to understand your study

In the introduction of a research paper, it is important to describe...

Ethnography

Which of the following qualitative methods best describes immersing oneself in a particular group of people?

Affect

The PANAS is a commonly-used measure of what?

Extraversion is measured on a 30-item inventory

Which of the following is the best example of an operational definition for extraversion?

Yes

Is this an association claim? People who have poorer eating habits tend to have poorer sleep quality

Having better sexual experiences may raise people's self-esteem

Dr. Gusakova reports in her manuscript that women who have higher self-esteem tend to have better sexual experiences. A reviewer responds that they suspect reverse causality. What does this mean?

Data fabrication

Diederick Staple constantly changed participants’ answers and modified spreadsheets of data. He committed what ethical violation?

Testing/fatigue effect

Aaron is participating in a two-part study about how playing sports affects his psychological wellbeing. On the first survey, Aaron carefully answers all of the questions about wellbeing. He then plays basketball for an hour and completes the wellbeing survey again. This time, he is tired and circles the same option (strongly agree) for all questions. What is Aaron experiencing?

Mixed methods

Dr. Reese brings romantic couples into the lab and has them engage in intimate conversations. He video records all of the conversations. He also has participants fill out a personality inventory. Dr. Reese is interested in examining the videos for how couples navigate intimate conversations (e.g., are there trends in behaviors). After watching many, he notices that some partners engage in a lot of deep interruptions - shifting the conversation to themselves. So, Dr. Reese decides to code all of the videos for instances of deep interruptions. Dr. Reese is also interested in whether some individual differences (e.g., openness) determine whether people engage in deep interruptions. **Which term best describes this study?**

Expectations play an important role in mental health

There is little evidence that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) outperform placebos in treating mild to moderate depression (although SSRIs do tend to outperform placebos for patients with more severe levels of depression). What does this finding reveal?

Inhibition

The Stroop Task is a common measure of _____.

Participants performed better on the easy task than they did on the hard task

Dr. Pak runs a study where she examines how task difficulty and audience presence influence task performance. She randomly assigns participants to complete either an easy task (circling all of the letter E's in an article) or a hard task (circling all of the letter E's in an article, but skipping the E's in words that have 3+ syllables). She also assigns these same participants to either do their task alone, in the presence of other people completing the same task (but not watching), or in front of group of people who are watching. Dr. Pak is interested in how many letter E's participants can circle accurately in each condition. **Which of the following findings reflects a main effect of task difficulty?**

Mechanism

Which of the following terms is commonly used interchangeably with "mediator"?

Moderation

Which of the following terms has the same meaning as "interaction"?

One variable happens before the other variable

Temporal precedence refers to when _______.

\n Not necessarily any of these

Parallel lines on a graph generally indicate which of the following phenomena?

Interviews

Suppose that Cristina wants to look into the research question “How does experiencing discrimination in the workplace affect a person of color’s ambition and desire for a leadership role within a startup tech company?” What would be the best method to use to research this?

It minimizes or eliminates systematic error

Which of the following is TRUE about random assignment?

\n Convenience Sample; Random Assignment

Dr. Levy recruits from the USF Intro Psych Subject Pool. After students sign up for his study, he uses a random number generator to determine whether participants will be in the experimental or control condition. Which of the following best describes Dr. Levy's study?

Within-subjects design

Collin is conducting a study in which participants will study a list for five minutes and remember as much as they can. They will then study another list for 10 minutes and see if they remember more than the first time. This is an example of what study design?

Participants did not provide informed consent

Why was Milgram's obedience research considered controversial?

Reactivity

Ella is conducting a line of research about altruism. In her first study, she observes participants without their knowledge and she observes that most people walk right past someone in need of help (a confederate of the research team). In a second study, Ella stands nearby her confederate in need. In this context, most people help the confederate. What common threat to internal validity does this illustrate?

You don't have data in some parts of the graph

What does it mean to have a restriction of range?

Caffeine improves people's exam performance

In a study, people randomly assigned 50mg of caffeine score higher on an exam than people randomly assigned 10mg. What best explains this finding?

Smaller (Weaker)

Replications of past studies tend to yield _____ effects.

This study may be fine but Prof. Walt needs to consult his Institutional Review Board for guidance

Prof. Walt is interested in how students' postures changes throughout the semester. He wants to secretly take video recordings of students who walk past his office in Kalmanovitz Hall over the course of a year and later have research assistants code these videos for student posture. Is this study ethical?

In a pilot study after delivering your manipulation

You want to include a manipulation check to assess whether participants are experiencing your manipulation the way you expect them to experience it. Which of the following is a safe location for your manipulation check?

To open up a conversation about implicit bias

Which of the following is an appropriate use for the Implicit Association Test?

Theoretical Sampling

In a previous study, Olivia learned that single mothers from low-income families can feel less prepared for motherhood than single mothers from middle to high income families. In the current study, Olivia only recruits single mothers for her study. What kind of sampling is Olivia using?

Power analysis

Which of the following is a statistical approach used predominantly to calculate a target sample size?

Are benign and malicious envy distinct emotions?

Which of the following is an example of a basic research question?

I cooked my dinners very quickly this week

Which of the following sentences contains a worthless adverb?

You expect a ceiling/floor effect

In which of the following situations might you prefer a ranking question over a Likert or semantic differential question?

Quantitative Research

Which of the following is most strongly associated with deductive research?

It shows that the measure is tapping something unique

How does discriminant validity help us establish construct validity?

The *p*-value will get larger (closer to 1)

You are conducting a study to test a hypothesis - but, unbeknownst to you, the null hypothesis is actually correct. As you recruit a larger and larger sample (more and more people), what should happen to your results?

No, because there is no random assignment to groups

Professor Alure wants to examine whether cis-men and trans-men differ in toxic masculinity. She recruits men from both groups and measures their toxic masculinity with a previously established scale. Is this an experiment?

\n Nothing - this phrase is too vague and ambiguous

A student writes in their research report, "A limitation of this study is that we only recruited college students. This may skew the data." In this sentence, what does "skew the data" mean?